Make Ahead

Pizza Party Strata With Garlic Bread & Pepperoni

by:
June 30, 2021
5
14 Ratings
Pizza Party Strata With Garlic Bread & Pepperoni
Photo by Rocky Luten. Prop Stylist: Amanda Widis. Food Stylist: Anna Billingskog.
  • Prep time 12 hours
  • Cook time 45 minutes
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

This pizza party strata is made with cubes of garlic bread, pepperoni, mozzarella, and dollops of marinara sauce bathed in an eggy custard. It's finished with grated Parm, snipped basil, and a few glugs of EVOO (optionally! but recommended). Move over Bagel Bites, there's a new way to pizza any time! Get creative and swap out the pepperoni for your favorite pizza toppings, from mushroom and olives to pineapple and soppressata.

The seasoned, garlic-buttered bread you can buy ready-to-toast at the supermarket is perfect here. If you’re looking for a homemade recipe, try this Garlickiest Garlic Bread; just stop at step three, then cube it up.

Strata is a cross between bread pudding and frittata—eggier than bread pudding, it easily slides into frittata’s savory territory. The recipe is highly adaptable, working with any stale bread from bagels to biscuits, and can accommodate any number of mix-ins, for the perfect fridge clean-out casserole. For best results, assemble it the night before so the bread can soak up the egg-milk mixture, then bake it in the morning for an easy and impressive brunch centerpiece.

This recipe makes enough to fill a high-sided 10-inch skillet, 2-quart baking dish, or 9x9-inch brownie pan. If you need to scale the recipe up to feed a bigger group, feel free to double the quantities and bake for an hour in a 9x13-inch casserole dish instead. For a smaller portion, you can divide the recipe in half and bake the strata for 30 minutes in a 6-inch skillet.

Want to get corny? Try this Cornbread and Cheddar Strata recipe. And read more about this strata technique here, so you have the confidence to take it off-script. —Sohla El-Waylly

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to garnish
  • 1/2 large loaf (12 ounces) garlic bread, homemade or store-bought, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 6 cups lightly packed), see Author Notes
  • 6 large eggs
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt (or 3/4 teaspoon Morton’s kosher salt)
  • 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 1/2 ounces sliced pepperoni (about 1/3 cup)
  • 8 ounces part-skim mozzarella, coarsely grated
  • 1/2 cup marinara sauce, plus more to serve
  • Grated Parmesan or pecorino and fresh basil, to serve (optional)
Directions
  1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Evenly grease a high-sided 10-inch skillet, 2-quart baking dish, or 9x9-inch brownie pan with olive oil.
  2. Spread the cubed garlic bread on a rimmed sheet pan and bake until lightly toasted, 10 to 12 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk the eggs until no streaks of whites remain. Add the milk, salt, red pepper flakes, and oregano and whisk to combine. Add the pepperoni and all but a handful of the shredded mozzarella. Mix with a rubber spatula to combine.
  4. Add the toasted garlic bread and fold into egg mixture until moistened and combined. Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan. Dollop big spoonfuls of marinara on top, garnish with remaining mozzarella.
  5. You can bake right away or, for best results, cover and chill in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. (If chilling for later, let the strata hang out at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before baking.) Bake the strata at 350°F until puffed, golden brown around the edges, and set in the center, about 45 minutes. (If the cheese isn’t brown enough, broil for 2 to 3 minutes until golden.) Garnish with grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese, a drizzle of olive oil, and torn basil if desired. Let cool 10 minutes before serving alongside additional warm marinara sauce.
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Sohla El-Waylly
Sohla El-Waylly is a Food52 Resident, sharing new riffable recipes every month that'll help you get creative in the kitchen. Watch her cook on YouTube in her new series, Off-Script With Sohla. Before she started developing fun recipes for home cooks, she worked as a chef in N.Y.C. and L.A., briefly owning a restaurant in Brooklyn with her husband and fellow chef, Ham El-Waylly. She lives in the East Village with Ham, their two dogs, and cat. Find out what else she's up to on Instagram @sohlae

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12 Reviews

Betti
Betti February 25, 2024
Can I just leave it in bowl in frig then put in pan in morning because I am wary of putting a cold glass dish in hot oven
 
Andrea
Andrea April 19, 2021
A super delicious way to use up odds and ends in the fridge! I've started baking a little extra bread and saving the rest for strata. Today I used up some leftover sourdough, tossed with roasted red pepper, caramelized onions, and a mix of gouda and swiss, and then layered half the mix down and spread over a layer of pesto before adding the rest. It took about 20 extra minutes to bake using a 2 qt glass Pyrex casserole dish. The results were fabulous, a glass baking dish makes a deep dark crispy crust! Even if you don't nail your flavors, hot sauces can correct anything when it comes to an egg bake. I love that I can make this before a busy day and have it ready to go for a hot satisfyingly meal!
 
BraydenF
BraydenF March 31, 2021
This was fantastic! Sohla's videos are always so great, and I love how she gives other ways to make it your own! I had never made strata before, and I made this in the 10 inch cast iron and it turned out beautifully! SHE'S RIGHT, the crispy edges are the best part!
 
skylarmarz
skylarmarz January 26, 2021
This is stupid good. Literally tasted just like a rich pizza bake and we barely noticed the eggs once we added our extra sauce on the side. Everyone had seconds.
 
Alexandraslp8
Alexandraslp8 January 19, 2021
Made this for dinner tonight and it was absolutely fantastic! Sohla, you are a genius! Loved how custardy the eggs got. I made the suggested homemade “garlickiest garlic bread” and it made this whole dish extra luxurious. Great recipe!
 
Colleen M.
Colleen M. January 8, 2021
I made this with a can of white beans, leftover focaccia, spinach, and roasted butternut squash. It was "very good," according to my non-vegetarian sister! My dad ate his with bacon. This version of strata also benefits from some balsamic glaze. The uncooked spinach over crisped in the oven, so I recommend cooking it beforehand.
 
megnaps
megnaps December 23, 2020
I am so impressed by this recipe! I saw the video yesterday and knew I had to try it since bread pudding is one of my all time favorite desserts and who doesn't love pizza? Genius! This was super easy to put together and I think it would have been even tastier if I had let it sit in the fridge overnight as recommended. I was just too excited to try it but next time I make another variation of this I will, lol. The bread really soaked up the custard and it was so delicious with the mozzarella and pizza sauce. The top got nice and crisp and was perfect with a little basil and parm on top. Really a no brainer recipe for weeknights, definitely give it a try!
 
megnaps
megnaps December 23, 2020
I am so impressed by this recipe! I saw the video yesterday and knew I had to try it since bread pudding is one of my all time favorite desserts and who doesn't love pizza? Genius! This was super easy to put together and I think it would have been even tastier if I had let it sit in the fridge overnight as recommended. I was just too excited to try it but next time I make another variation of this I will, lol. The bread really soaked up the custard and it was so delicious with the mozzarella and pizza sauce. The top got nice and crisp and was perfect with a little basil and parm on top. Really a no brainer recipe for weeknights, definitely give it a try!
 
megnaps
megnaps December 23, 2020
I am so impressed by this recipe! I saw the video yesterday and knew I had to try it since bread pudding is one of my all time favorite desserts and who doesn't love pizza? Genius! This was super easy to put together and I think it would have been even tastier if I had let it sit in the fridge overnight as recommended. I was just too excited to try it but next time I make another variation of this I will, lol. The bread really soaked up the custard and it was so delicious with the mozzarella and pizza sauce. The top got nice and crisp and was perfect with a little basil and parm on top. Really a no brainer recipe for weeknights, definitely give it a try!
 
Luki
Luki December 15, 2020
Made this pizza strata and a french onion inspired twist like Sohla briefly mentions in the video. Pizza one was okay. I'd rather just have pizza, was my boyfriend's feedback. I think pepperoni doesn't quite work because it doesn't crisp up, so maybe put that on last or use sausage. The french onion one: pretty good! For that, did gruyere, wheat and country bread, 2 medium onions carmelized, 1/2 milk 1/2 broth, and a 1 lb steak I seasoned, seared and took to about rare then cooled and cut into thin 1 inch squares. Thank you for a flexible recipe!
 
Paul L.
Paul L. December 8, 2020
I first made garlic bread from a stale baguette and used that for the cubes. Terrific! Six eggs to two cups milk starts out pretty wet but soaked up nicely into the bread before baking after a half-day rest in the fridge. My adult children both came back for seconds. Was nice to make something new!
 
Nedge
Nedge December 8, 2020
Made this for breakfast and it's delicious. I didn't riff too far from your recipe because I wanted to try yours before venturing off. I did use sharp cheese along with the mozzarella. Thanks, Sohla, for creating so many wonderful recipes.